After comparing the sex lives of about 300 students, researchers discovered that semen may have anti-depressant effects on people who have condomless sex
studies
Here’s Why So Many Bisexuals Stay in the Closet: Other Queer People
A lead researcher on bisexuality recently said that he’s experienced the most biphobia from gay people, and several studies back up his assertion
Researchers Have Uncovered a Way to Have Better Sex, and It’s Sticky Icky
Two new studies on weed and sex suggest that weed smokers have enjoyable sex more often than people who don’t smoke weed. But how much do you need to smoke?
‘Bud Sex’ Is What Some Straight Guys Call Having Sex With Each Other
A sociology doctorate recently interviewed 19 men from white, conservative, rural areas about ‘bud-sex’, a heterosexual way of having gay sex.
New Report Confirms Most LGBTQ People Meet Their Partners Through Apps
When it comes to meeting partners, most LGBTQ people rely on online dating apps, and here’s why
A Study About ‘The Perfect Penis’ Reveals Women Are Actually a Lot Like Gay Men
A few years ago, Dr. Nicole Prause found herself with 33 blue, 3-D-printed penises and the desire to obtain data about the “perfect penis”
PrEP Isn’t the Cause of Higher STI Rates in Gay Men, Says New Study
A new study says the rise in gay men’s STI rates isn’t because of Truvada but rather due to a change in sexual, cultural and societal stigma
People Are Legitimately Worried That Men Could Become Infertile by the Year 2060
Men have a 50% lower sperm count than they did 40 years ago, and it’s caused by plastics
Nearly Half of Gay Men Report Being Victims of Domestic Violence
A new study shows that gay domestic abuse occurs almost as often in male same-sex relationships as it does in different-sex relationships
No Shocker Here: Low Intelligence Linked With Anti-Gay Bias, Says New Study
A new study shows that people with low cognitive skills are more likely to have anti-gay attitudes
Pop Music Gets Happier or Darker with the Stock Market’s Rise and Fall, Say Economists
Researchers have updated an old stock market pop music theory that says pop music tends to be happier when the market is up and angrier when it’s down
GLAAD Wants Half of All Hollywood Films to Feature LGBTQ People by 2024, But Is That Realistic?
GLAAD just released a report on LGBT representation in film throughout 2017, and while it’s not great, they also have an ambitious plan on how to fix it
While homosexuality has of course been around as long as humans have, medical and academic studies of homosexuality have been a relatively recent phenomenon.
Medical literature on LGBT individuals expanded in in the late 19th century as medical and legal experts were tasked with determining whether people accused of criminal sexual behavior should be considered innocent because of a physical or psychological defect.
Notable physicians and researchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included Magnus Hirschfield (1868-1935) and Sandor Rado (1890-1972). Magnus Hirschfeld was a German sexologist who argued homosexuality was a natural, biological variant in the spectrum between full maleness and femaleness. Hirschfeld was also openly gay and an advocate for homosexual rights. Analyst Sandor Rado considered homosexuality a phobic avoidance of the other sex that is caused by parental prohibitions against childhood sexuality.
Alfred Kinsey’s research studies on homosexuality in the 1940s and 1950s were incredibly influential and marked a cultural shift away from the notion that homosexuality was a pathology and toward the idea that it is a normal variant of human sexuality. Kinsey introduced a 0 to 6 scale to classify sexual behavior or fantasy from “exclusively heterosexual” to “exclusively homosexual”; this is called the Kinsey Scale. The Kinsey Reports, two books on human sexual behavior written by Kinsey and several others, found that 37% of males and 13% of females had at least some homosexual experience and 10% of males were essentially exclusively homosexual.
Despite progress on LGBT issues in the 20th century, it wasn’t until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Around the same time, as there was increasing interest in gay and lesbian rights, queer studies and gender studies began to grow. There are currently at least five academic institutions in the U.S. with undergraduate programs in queer studies. In 2005, the first doctoral program for gender studies was approved.